210. Health is Life: LIFEBUOY SOAP, Philippine Ads, 1936-1966

EARLY 1936 PHILIPPINE AD, LIFEBUOY HEALTH SOAP & SHAVING CREAM.

LIFEBUOY Health Soap  has a long history in the Philippines, available here in the Philippines since the Commonwealth years. Originally introduced by the Lever Bros. in England in 1895, it made a splash in America, becoming one of the country’s most popular soaps from 1923 to the 1950s.

The first LIFEBUOY Soaps in the country were imported from the U.S. by Smith, Bell & Co.Ltd. in the 1930s. The soaps—which were phenol-based carbolic soaps—were advertised on a “health” platform as the mediciney-smelling soap had germ-fighting qualities.

The Philippine Refining Company (PRC, founded 1916, incorporated 1927) became the manufacturers and marketers of Lever Brothers products when the company ventured into bath and beauty soaps. The first soap product introduced was LUX in 1950.  By 1951, LIFEBUOY was the best selling health soap in North America , prompting PRC to launch the soap here that same year.

 

WASH DAILY WITH LIFEBUOY! 1953 AD

The first illustrated, locally-made ads came out in 1953, touting the germicidal properties of the soap. The octagonal shaped LIFEBUOY  came in red and yellow packaging.

 

LIFEBUOY, KILL GERMS--GUARDS YOUR HEALTH,1953

Sometime in 1951 or 1952,  Lever Bros. experimented with adding perfumes to the soap, and made the changes permanent in 1954. Thus LIFEBUOY was repositioned as both a health and beauty soap. It is credited for popularizing the term “B.O.”for ‘body odor’ in it advertising.

 

MARLENE DAUDEN AND TONY MARZAN, LIFEBUOY SOAP, 1955

Advertisements from 1955, featured the coral-colored LIFEBUOY Soap endorsed by local showbiz love teams as a family soap. The ads made mentioned of LIFEBUOY’s exclusive purifying ingredient—Puralin—which keeps body safe from sweat and perspiration. The same ingredient also clears skin of blemishes. The first romantic pair featured were Marlene Dauden and Tony Marzan.

 

MARLENE DAUDEN AND TONY MARZAN, FOR LIFEBUOY, 1955

The use of the country's leading love teams turned out to be very successful, as beauty soaps made use of the same celebrity formula for their ads. The no #1 tandem of Nida Blanca and Nestor de Villa,  joined the LIFEBUOY bandwagon in 1957. 

NIDA BANCA AND NESTOR DE VILLA, FOR LIFEBUOY, 1957 Photo: VIDEO48

Sampaguita Pictures was contracted by PRC to provide wholesome romantic pairings to appear in the LIFEBUOY print ads, and they were employed for regular as weall as seasonal promotions,

NATION'S LEADING LOVE TEAMS, LIFEBUOY ENDORSERS,1957

Other leading love teams of the country who pushed the product in the 50s decades included Amalia Fuentes and Juancho Gutierrez, Shirley Moreno and Zaldy Zshornack, Maruta Zobel and Robert Campos, and Lita Gutierrez and Willie Sotelo.

MARITA ZOBEL AND ROBERT CAMPOS FOR LIFEBUOY SOAP, 1961

 In the 1960s, the love team formula in LIFEBUOY advertising was continued by the new toast of Philippine movies, Susan Roces and young, matinee idol, Romeo Vasquez,  Marita Zobel and Robert campos also pushed the products to new height in 1961

SUSAN ROCES AND ROMEO VASQUEZ, FOR LIFEBUOY SOAP, 1960

LIFEBUOY surged in popularity in  late 1960s through the early 1970s, with the introduction of LIFEBUOY White.

 

GLORIA ROMERO & JUANCHO GUTIERREZ, FOR LIFEBUOY SOAP, 1961.

By 1966, LIFEBUOY began modernizing its look, and upgrading its formulation, with its Double Care  Action, which protects against skin bacteria, and which gives a longer-lasting feeling of after-bath freshness. This was at a critical time when Procter & Gamble decided to launch its bacterial skin soap, Safeguard, internationally, beginning with the Philippines.

LIFEBUOY'S DOUBLE-CARE ACTION, for all-day protection, 1966

LIFEBUOY's original anti-bacteria platform had been diluted through the years with added promises of complexion care due to the proliferation of beauty soaps. This proved to be LIFEBUOY's undoing, as Safeguard would latch on to this single-minded "germ protection', and built it with credentials from medical authorities. By the new 70s decade, SAFEGUARD had a stronghold on the bacterial soap market.

LIFEBUOY, Double-Care campaign, female version, 1966

LIFEBUOY advertising continued till the early 2000s, until the product itself was totally phased out from the U.S. market in 2006, though it still is produced in some parts of the world, including India—for the Asian market.

AN ATTEMPT TO PRE-EMPT SAFEGUARD'S LAUNCH, Note tagline. 1966

SOURCE:

NIDA-NESTOR LIFEBUOY PRIINT AD, courtesy of Video 48.http://video48.blogspot.com/2008/04/terrific-tandem-of-nida-and-nestor.html